Running on angry works for Wolves' Michalek

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LISLE -- Oswego East sophomore Ariel Michalek felt pretty motivated when she toed the starting line Saturday at the 23rd Lisle Mane Event, and it showed.

A week ago at the Bartlett Flying Hawk Invite, Michalek had the lead in the race's final stretches before being passed by four runners and eventually finishing fifth. This time, she pulled ahead of the field less than a quarter-mile into the race and held on, winning the race after covering the 3.1-mile course in 19 minutes, 29 seconds.

Liza Tauscher of Geneva placed second in 19:43 in the race run on course muddied by Friday night's rain.

"We had to avoid the mud and attack everything we could," Michalek said. "The last race I had the lead and got passed, and I didn't want that to happen again. It had made me mad.

"My time could have been better, but I was just happy that I finished first."

Geneva junior Kevin McDowell was also in attack mode in the boys race. The course features a large hill about a mile in, and he powered down the back side of the hill to pull away from the field.

McDowell, who three weeks ago finished fourth at the ITU World Triathlon Championships at Gold Coast, Australia, went unchallenged the rest of the way, winning easily in 16:22. Kevin Barnacle of Westmont was the runner-up in 16:31.

"I wanted to take it out and see how I felt, and I felt OK so I decided to take it out hard," McDowell said. "It was a great feeling (to win)."

"Kevin ran an awesome race, and I thought he could have run faster if he'd had someone to push him," Geneva coach Bob Thomsen said. "He took the lead and said, 'This is my race until someone takes it away from me.' And no one did."

Overall the day belonged to Geneva, as the Vikings took the boys and girls team titles. Led by McDowell's win and an 11th-place effort from Justin Rodriguez, Geneva totaled 64 points to outdistance Marmion (82), Westmont (87) and West Chicago (100).

Zach Young (seventh, 16:54) and Ben Kanute (ninth, 16:56) earned top-10 finishes to pace Marmion to its runner-up effort.

"Zach and Ben are starting to figure it out and work together, and by the end of the season they should progress to the point where they can be All-State candidates in our class," Cadets coach Dan Billish said. "We are still mixing and matching when it comes to our top five. There was good and bad -- a lot more good than bad -- but we are still trying to establish some consistency."

Oswego East placed 10th in the boys race (320 points), while IMSA (360) placed 12th, Plano (466) 18th and Somonauk (585) 23rd.

On the girls side, Tess Ehrhardt (sixth place, 20:07) and Rachel Hammond (eighth, 20:11) joined Tauscher in the top 10 as the Vikings posted a team total of 81 points. St. Francis was second (122), followed by Burlington Central (138) and Plainfield North (150).

Other area teams included Oswego East (seventh, 192), Rosary (14th, 358), Somonauk (15th, 396) and IMSA (23rd, 586).

The Geneva girls' win shows the depth of the two-time defending Class 3A state champions, as top runners Kelly Whitley, Megan Brady and Kelly Shogren all sat out the race to rest with the Western Sun conference meet and the state series coming up in the next few weeks.